Advancing acquisition and demonstration of medicine competencies
This post is the first in a series on interactive case learning. I will review the rationale for development; my experiences with developing the model into reality; working with faculty/SME to develop cases; and lessons learned. My posts will be in the context of medical training, but the knowledge translates to other subject areas.
Dilemma : How do you educate med students and MDs about core competencies in medicine at a distance and then assess them without clinical practicum?
Thesis : These posts will demonstrate that it is indeed possible to educate adult learners in the acquisitions of new knowledge, skills and competencies similar to in-person training but with an online curriculum. The ICS model is argued to be a vehicle for additional acquisition and synthesis new knowledge and skills, as well as an analytically tool for measuring core competencies.
Definitions:
Interactive Case Studies (ICS)
ICS are iterative, dynamic clinical cases built on the principles of problem-based learning (PBL).
Core Competencies
- Being able to access high-quality, high-value information
- Being able to think critically
- Being able to advise patients intelligently
- Being able to communicate effectively with patients and peers
- Being able to listen, understand, guide, and comfort patients
- Being able to facilitate change, when needed
- Being respectful to humans' needs and experiences
Learning Object
A structured, standalone resource that encapsulates high quality information in a manner that facilitates learning and pedagogy.
Rationale
The ICS Model was developed specifically to (1) meet a need for a more interactive and engaging learning object, and (2) aid in the presentation of the curriculum.
ICS are iterative, dynamic clinical cases built on the principles of problem-based learning (PBL). The design of the ICS is adapted from a design established in the field of organizational management (Moberg & Caldwell, 1989). PBL facilitates not only the acquisition of new knowledge and skills through active engagement of the learner, but also provides for evaluation of the demonstration of knowledge, skills, and competencies through real-world interactive situations. ICS’s present video-snippets of typical physician-patient interactions and allow the learner to practice and demonstrate clinical counseling skills and integrate knowledge from the full curriculum. The ICS model is not solely a model of multiple choice testing, though multiple choice options are a primary mechanism for navigation in the decision tree. Instead, the learner is prompted at various points for qualitative responses and encouraged to reflect on their clinical reasoning which has lead them to a particular point in the case.
In a case, the learner is presented with multiple options of course of action in communicating with the patient. The cases can be produced with specific learning/assessment goals (e.g. patient centered communication, advising on referral, intake, etc). Through the programming, assessment feedback is provided to the learner. Some particular cases can be presented solely for the purpose of synthesis and practice of clinical knowledge and skills, while others can be presented in terms of evaluation.
The initial presentation
I first presented this learning model in 2002, although it was not developed for some time due to resources and other issues. Below is my slide deck from that initial presentation.
Next Post: My next post will focus on taking this initial instructional design and getting buy-in to develop the model.
